(Originally written November 2, 2006 in Book 8)
What is this thing called science?
A. Chalmers
Ch. 5 - Introducing Falsificationism
Introduction
Popper was the most forceful advocate of falsificationism.
Educated in Vienna in the 1920's (the heyday of Logical Positivism)
Rudolph Carnap (a positivist) had a large following and his supporters clashed with Popper's until the 1960's.
Popper became disenchanted with inductivism because of the Freudian and Marxists and their using it in their theories to make all facts fit into their systems. These systems appeared to be powerful because they were affirmed by a wide variety of facts, but could neither prove anything nor disprove anything.
Popper claimed that true scientific theories are falsifiable.
Falsficationism freely admits that observation is guided by and presupposes theory.
Science is to progress by trial and error and by conjectures and refutations.
Theory in falsification cannot be true, but it can be hopefully said to be the best available.
A logical point in favor of falsificationism
Some theories can be shown to be false through the results of observation and experiment.
This has a logical flavor to it.
The falsity of universal statements can be deduced from suitable singular statements.
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